Monday, 4 March 2013

Bricked Netgear Stora? Arduino to the rescue!

My latest attempt at getting offsite backups working for me in the most convenient manner possible involves scattering storage devices around at places I frequently visit such as relatives places, etc. I thought I'd re-purpose a Netgear Stora device I had lying about (P.S. Don't ever buy one of these if you value your privacy) by modding the firmware on it. Turns out, an arduino makes a great TTL serial adapter if you short the reset pin to GND. :)

I'm also particularly proud of my ghetto MacGyver-like pin connectors. They were created with PVC tape rolled around the leg of a resistor and then cut into thirds and slipped over each pin to hold them in place. (Yes, I need to get myself some more electronics gear...)

Pin outs here in case anyone stumbles across this wanting to do something similar. :)